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Please help beginner with choosing lighting.

2K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  flutterbug 
#1 ·
Hi everyone. This is my first post here. I've been trying to read up on starting a planted aquarium for a while now. I’ve found myself ending up on this forum a lot so I signed up this past weekend. I also received my Eco - Complete substrate I ordered in the mail and got my 55 gallon filled this past weekend. Even though I know the lighting I have is insufficient I went to Petco and bought 6 plants to start. Originally I had a list of plants I made from researching on this forum. (Only very low to low light easy plants.) However Petco does not have a good selection and I ended up having a hard time just finding 'true' aquatics never mind easy ones! So here is what I have:
Hygrophila corymbosa stricta (Compacta)
Microsorium pteropus (Java Fern)
Cryptocoryne species unknown
Bacopa caroliniana (Lemon Bacopa)
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis (Micro Sword)
Echinodorus argentinensis (Argentine Sword)

After looking up the plants it seems most of them will do ok with low to med-high light. I didn’t spend a whole lot so if I lose a couple due to low light I will just try something different next time.
My biggest problem right now is I don't have much to spend and I want to figure out the least expensive lighting choice to keep plants alive. I saw someone post about reasonably priced Odyssea lighting, so I was thinking of getting an Odyssea 48" T5 HO Aquarium Light Dual Fluorescent Hood Fixture - Freshwater 2x54W. Does this sound like a good choice? I am open to having to upgrade in the future but for now I don’t want to do much more than add the min. necessary lighting to start out. In other words I don’t want to have to get a complicated CO2 injection system or what not, at this time. I’m not sure at what point of lighting this would be required.
I would actually like a light similar to this Odyssea but with 3 bulbs, if it was not too much more money, however I can’t seem to find one. Plus I’m wondering if extra bulb brings me to a point of needing CO2.

I know this is already a long post, but I am also trying to keep in mind the possibility of being able to add moonlighting. So we can enjoy the tank in the evening. Do moonlights using LEDs have any effect on plants? Can you use Actinic lighting as moonlighting or does it have an effect on the plants? I would only want to run them until I went to bed if it is best to leave them off for some period.

Another thing I’m pondering is how to go about putting all this lighting over my aquarium.
It has the black plastic opening lids in front, with a bridge divider in the middle of the tank and the hood currently has, what I believe to be, plexi glass in a 4” wide section where 2 individual T8 single tube light fixtures sit. This has me wondering if the light fixture can sit directly on the hood or if the plexi glass is not appropriate for that. Or if it depends on the light?
My husband is against me changing to the full glass top style and I actually don’t prefer the way that looks myself, plus it will make costs go up. (Maybe not muchmore if you factor in the extra cost of having to buy two fixtures rather than one.)
However I would prefer to put lighting that will work with my hood I have, which only allows 4” of width. I am thinking I might be better off with two separate 24” fixtures however with the increased cost between initial fixtures and bulb replacements costing more I think a 48” will be the better way to go.

Please give me your opinions and ideas. Thank You :redface:
 
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#2 ·
Well first off how big is the tank? Since you stated its 48" I can assume it's probably a 55G or 75 right?

Lighting a big tank will be the most expensive part of this hobby, especially for a beginner. I would recommend if you have the space, is to try plants in a smaller tank like a 10G. Lighting and substrate will be significantly cheaper and it allows the plant load to be manageable for a beginner. Also I think you will have more fun with a tank that is fully planted rather than one that has a few plants here and there.

One of the most discouraging aspects for a beginner is algae and one of the the major mistakes beginners make IMO is to start a tank and put a few plants in rather than pack it fully. The latter will discourage algae growth.
 
#3 ·
For the hoods you can just take them off entirely, an open tank top works fine so long as you dont' have to worry about anything getting into it (I can't do this because of my bird).

Your best bet is going to be a T5 HO fixture because even though it costs a little more then a PC fixture to begin with, over time it'll pay off (lower electricity usage and cheaper bulbs, plus it illuminates better)

Very low light plants like anubias etc will work well under standard T8 bulbs so maybe focus on things like that so you don't get into the algae aspect of things by chasing high light. two T5 HO might give you algae though. Floating plants like duckweed can help.
 
#4 ·
Thanks Overfloater, It is a 55 gallon and unfortunately I already have 60 pounds of Eco Complete down in there and 6 small plants planted to start my trial and error.

Petrie, thanks, I have cats and children that I don't trust to have no cover. My cat was already scoping the tank out from the top of the entertainment center. I think he was trying to decide if he could jump down on it from there. I hope he decides no or one day I will come home to a fish tank all over the floor and lots of water damage! So I've now convinced myself, I will just have to deal with the glass top look!

I guess I was jumping the gun but after spending hours online I ended up ordering a light system that is probably way too much for my beginning skills :( I guess I'm in trouble. Now I am going to have to listen to my husband say I told you not to bother with plants when the tank is full of algae! I ordered an Odyssea 48" HO 4 bulb with led moonlight and timer built right in. I was thinking I could only run two of the bulbs until I need the other two as my experience rises or I thought using some blue actnic bulbs as dusk and dawn settings would be cool. It seemed like such a good deal I just wanted to get one before they sold out! After adding the costs of buying the cheapest fixture locally, adding a timer that you can have different night and day settings on and buying the correct bulbs since the standards weren't 6700 K. It would have cost more, plus I'd have to figure out how to work in a moonlight later down the road.
 
#7 ·
I am not sure how high the stand on the fixture keeps them, but hopefully at least 6". I guess I will have to look into adding co2. I figured I would eventually anyways. :)
I did read that this particular model light does not have very good reflectors, so will that bring down how much light gets in the tank, enough to make a difference? Love the pictures of your tanks! I would really like to grow that grass successfully.
 
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